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Bobby Jindal administration could block the state school board from hiring lawyer for Common Core fight

John White, Bobby Jindal

Education Superintendent John White and Gov. Bobby Jindal are in a protracted fight over the Common Core education standards and what test should be used in schools next year.
(NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive)

Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has said it needs more information before it can sign off on the state school board's plan to hire a private lawyer to represent it in a potential legal fight over Common Core.

Louisiana's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education needs permission from the governor's staff and the state attorney general to hire outside counsel, even though the lawyer the state school board wants to hire has agreed to work for free. The regulation has complicated the battle over Common Core, since the state school board is trying to hire legal representation for a potential courtroom showdown with Jindal himself.

The governor's chief administrator, Kristy Nichols, has raised several questions about the state school board's contract with the private lawyers, including whether the attorneys have truly agreed to work for no compensation. It's also not clear whether one branch of government can hire outside counsel to sue another branch of government, she said in the letter.

Nichols wants to meet with state school board president Chas Roemer and Louisiana Education Superintendent John White about the contract.

Nichols staff said the stall was not motivated by the governor simply wanting to thwart the state school board's efforts to challenge him. "We want to make clear that's not what is going on," said spokesperson Meghan Parrish, when asked whether the delay was politically motivated.

Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell did not share Nichols reservations about the state school board's contract with private attorneys however. He approved its arrangement to hire outside counsel last week.

If the Jindal administration does not end up approving the state school board's agreement with the private attorneys, the Department of Education could still use lawyers on its own staff to bring a legal challenge.

"We are not shutting down their options," Parrish said.

Still, education officials have said they needed outside counsel because their in-house lawyers don't have the expertise to bring a legal challenge of this sort in court. It was the reason they sought private help in the first place.

Meanwhile, Jindal has hired a private attorney to represent the administration in a separate lawsuit over Common Core brought this week. The governor's private lawyer is not working for free. The governor, like the state school board, also has government lawyers at his disposal that might be used for such legal action.

This is a developing news story. Please check back with NOLA.com for more details.